Infection prevention

Practicing the highest standards
of infection prevention

Reducing infections is a mission we care deeply about at Novant Health. To eliminate infection complications, your infection prevention begins the moment you walk through our doors and lasts until you are fully recovered.

Infections can slow your recovery time and could even lead to serious health problems, including death. Controlling these infections is an essential component to the healthcare we provide. It can be as simple as hand washing and as sophisticated as high-level disinfection of surgical instruments. Regardless of whether you come in for a visit, an outpatient procedure, a surgery or you are placed in our Intensive Care Unit, we practice the highest standards and implement the strictest protocols to protect you against infection, including:

Promotion of hand hygiene compliance with our staff, you and your guests

We have earned the Ernst A. Codman Award from The Joint Commission, a national award recognizing the fact that our staff and physicians dramatically lowered the MRSA infection rate in our hospitals by 69 percent. As a result of this success, we’ve been able to share our materials and knowledge with thousands of hospitals and healthcare organizations through our public website, www.WashingHandsSavesLives.org.

Below are reports on our performance on hand hygiene and three primary hospital-acquired infections.

Hand hygiene

Hand washing is the number one way to prevent the spread of illness. Compliance with strong hand hygiene protocols leads to a significant decrease in several key infection rates. This is why we promote good hand hygiene, which means caregivers should wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before and after each patient contact.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) rate

MRSA is a bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics and is a common cause of hospital-acquired infections.

Vancomycin-resistant enteroccocci (VRE) infection rate

VRE bacteria can cause infections in patients who are in a weakened state. This could include patients undergoing chemotherapy, patients who recently had a complicated surgery or are using invasive devices such as a catheter. Like MRSA, this bacteria has become resistant to common antibiotics.

C. difficile infection rate

Clostridium difficile, often called C. difficile or "C. diff," is a bacterial infection of the intestines. It can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.